Goya

Goya is an Okinawan/Asian style eatery recommended to me quite some time ago by Barbara Stein. I went there yesterday and fell in love with the place. The atmosphere of cheery colorful comfort, the super friendly staff, and the great tasting food combined to make me very happy indeed. Barbara swears by the salads there, but it was the Nasi Chample that caught my eye.

Looks good, doesn’t it? This Nasi Chample consists of rice, miso soup and six side dishes that change daily. Because it’s a flexible dish, they can easily change it to suit your dietary requirements – so in my case, no meat. Let’s take a closer look at those side dishes.

From the top left going anti-clockwise we have: mozuku (stringed seaweed) tempura, peanuts salad, potato & egg, shima (Okinawan) tofu with cabbage in a chilli sauce, gurukun (Okinawan fish) with fruit & egg, and daikon radish & cauliflower curry. That little dish right at the top is tentsuyu – a dip for the tempura. Everything tasted wonderful – and it only set me back 850 yen.

Goya is in a charming converted machiya house on the south side of Imadegawa, midway between Kyoto University and Kitashirakawa Doori. Here is an excellent map. Here is a coupon you can print off, fill out and get ten percent off for. And here is another coupon you can get chopsticks for (wow!).